When
we talk about tango we want often to define the true tango, what tango
really is and most of the time I agree with the descriptions! Still, I would prefer to present my experience of tango as a
path the dancers are advancing on, a mental landscape I am passing through.
When I started out the tango
WAS about steps and ochos and turns and figures for me. Fast music urged me to
move fast forward and a slow song gave me more calm steps. To manage
the difficult figures made the joy burst hilariously out and l was
looking for more challenges! My dance was external and the music
expression was external! Everything in my dance was easily visible to
others!
The paradigm shift was the change from the external dance to an internal one!
One
day my partner was rising tall at the end of a musical phrase and I
felt that it was the most beautiful thing ever! For me, this was the
first time I clearly experienced the external movement and its internal
equivalent. During the external years, I had developed the internal
equivalents for tango and an ability to recognize them within me. Now we
could just stand there with small movements released by the music and
enjoy a tanda! The best ever! :)
Today I can fall off to a
totally external dance during a fast milonga but a heavy Pugliese could
tease me down to the most internal dance instead!
Tango keeps
surprising me! The sources of joy during the first years were different
compared to the delights now. The scenery of today will change and the
path will run through different landscapes during the coming years and I am
curious! It is wise to find pleasure from every period of tango, from every section of your path!
I
started leading as a nuevo dancer with open hold and large,
space-consuming steps. That developed by the years to a close embrace
dance with enquentros as my home events. However, I still felt that the
more dynamic, figure-rich dance was calling me to come back home. Not to
nuevo anymore but to tango salong.
My early hopeful idea was to
squeeze down the large nuevo movements to salong size and via this short
cut to reach my goal fast. But no; it did not go that easy!
I
know that in March 2018 one of my followers and I were working on a
number of figures from Torres and some other teachers keeping our eyes
on the tango salong goal. By practica hours we managed to learn figures
but then there was a clear halt. A few obstacles which I had not
anticipated at the beginning, turned up!
Challenges
One of the challenges
was the power of rewards the old style of dancing could bring us. When a
wonderful tanda started how could we continue training with no reward
in sight compared to the bliss the old way could take us to for sure!
Another
challenge was the routine followers and I had developed during the
years - we had our best abrazo which we fell into so naturally. It felt
nasty to - even if done in the most gentle way - to push her slightly
away to a more salong type of abrazo. It was my project and my
responsibility but it was hard and I failed often.
There was also
fear of losing something during the change process. A renovation or
rebuild of one room has often an impact on how happy you are with the
rest of your house. It could be some delicate change in my musicality,
or some other valuable aspect quietly disappearing forever.
Thoughts in solitude
My
goal was and is to maintain the old way of dancing with all its positive
aspects and add the new salong to it. The new questions my mind is
elaborating on now are about how to choose the style for a tanda? Should
I choose the style according to the music or prioritize the follower's
style? Shall I fit the Milonga or to the mood of the night? If followers
see me dancing differently with others do they have some interest to
return my cabeceo or will they avoid me? At the end of the day, I don't
think there will be real problems to place the new dance but these are
some of the questions my brain is tumbling around during this year of
isolation.
Inspiration!
History
The renovation of Tango House I wrote about in 2019 has taken this form now!
This is only about skill! There are a great number of other aspects
adding to tanda experience.
But not this time.
The skill
differences have an impact on our tanda but these issues are difficult
to discuss. I like figures/numbers and math so the idea here is formed
as a calculation! I suggest that both dancers have a maximum number of
resources to offer the partner for building up the enjoyment. Lets set
it here as 10. The maximum enjoyment value for a dancing couple is then
limited to 20 during a tanda. That's the ultimate heaven!
If you
are an experienced leader, well trained in technique the scores get
nicely up. We say that this leader has an estimated score value 7 so he
can give a beginner follower an enjoyable tanda of 8, (7+1). If this
leader is able to relax and smoothly lead a follower he can maybe offer a
good tanda to a partner at the highest level, a fully developed
follower at 10. The enjoyment will hit the 17 bar for this couple!
On
the internet and the talks around the pista are continuously
complaining about the leader skill levels. There are also followers who
have a strategy not to pay for their learning. They expect that the
leaders will for free teach them all they need to know for the local
pista. They are also totally confident to tell the leaders about this. I
suppose that this drives followers to chase tandas with leaders a lot
of levels above their own. It's because this maximizes the learning, the
enjoyment!
I wrote earlier about the training needed to stabilize
and make your tango movements, forms strong and endurable. This was and
is the advantage of dancing with partners at different skill levels.
Keep in mind that your skill level is always depending on your own
personal effort. You work with your technique at home, you take lessons
and get experienced by hundreds of hours at the pista. You maybe get
your skill very easily, by a few hours, compared with me who needs
countless hours to get some progress. But a dancer needs profound,
personal own skill to contribute, a way to add your personality to a
tanda.
You never get to the highest heaven by riding only on the
partner's skill but you need to develop and offer your own stable and
independent skill and personality to the tanda.
Your personal skill impacts the tanda enjoyment calculated below!
During the dancing years, some
aspects about my relation to tango and it's teachers have become
visible. When I first time entered a milonga and saw how ages were mixed
on the pista I was struck by the thought: T h i s I could keep up for a
long time! Today it seems that I had the rest of my life in mind.
Limited or lifetime in tango?
You
maybe feel that you will stay just a few years in tango or you have a
clearly limited goal then you could pay some extra attention to the choice
of a teacher and the style. You maybe want quickly become a member of
the local community in that case it is wise to follow the style and
teachers for that group! Ask for advice, talk with people and stick to
your plan - that teacher and those people! Your goals will define your learning, direct your development until you reach the goal!
Another
possibility is just to start in a way and place most comfortable for
you. That was the choice I caught! By testing the possibilities I have
found out what I like and what inspires me. A vast number of techniques
and sequences will be available on that path!
A long stay itself will
create pressure for change. New ways to dance will develop refreshing
the old steps and give a new look to the pista. That learning will
create a new edge for your personal expression in tango. In other words, the learning will reveal to you your tango and develop it!
In both cases keep in mind that you need somehow check and monitor the technique to be ok for your body and mind.
The relationship to teacher's knowledge - apilado; in axis; colgada
apilado - no own balance, towards the teacher
In
the beginning I believed and learned everything my teachers told me and
so did my classmates! I wonder now if anyone has skipped this mode?
Usually we got just one version of a figure and it becomes the only, the
only right way to do it. In other words we were leaning heavily towards
our teacher and his/her ideas, knowledge. One common consequence of
this was that the alternatives we saw around us were all errors, signs
of bad learning and unskilled teaching!
That period was the prime
time for critics. When we watched the pista we repeated the technical
details and tried to map the ochos in our mind to the variety of ochos
performed in front of us. Some of them showed hardly any of the traits
we had learned and kept in mind. We wondered if someone could educate
those poor dancers!
The funniest story was told by a laughing
follower who during her whole first year felt deep sorrow for a couple
who had totally misunderstood the way how to dance tango. Could someone
help them? Later on she learned the reason - they were the absolute
best canyengue dancers in our community! So different but still right.
in axis - solo, own balance
During
the following years, I knew better what I liked and took more control
over what kind of movements I wanted to include in my skills. I picked
the suitable parts of the teachers' offerings and became aware of the
choices others did, how different variations came alive. The deeper I
came on this path the clearer it was that I will never again be able to
find one teacher who totally responses to all my needs and goals. My
future learning was more like finding the puzzle pieces a teacher could
offer and it was my responsibility to fit them to the rest of my skills.
All the different ideas about tango and the knowledge now built in my
body became a platform to understand and manage my tango and tango life.
I found my own balance in it all, I was in balance on my mental axis;
not running around so much but staying where I belonged.
colgada - hanging out, away from the teacher
In
spite of all learning this dance has it's secrets and some of them I
have become aware of by coming across the opposite ideas. I call it for
Colgada learning and it occurs when I disagree with the ideas and
offerings a teacher or fellow dancers have. It is not just that the
stuff is not ok but it is not my thing. This gives me the possibility
to recognize the edges of my personal platform, opinions, and ideas. You
test the offering but feel that it is nothing for you and develop
instead a variation which will fit your milonga night. Now you also know
more about where the others are, what they prefer and enjoy!
All these aspects have passed by and will be met again! It keeps me activated and maybe you also!
After getting to a certain level of
dancing a private teacher told me that I should pick my partners with
greater care and focus on the more skillful and highly ranked followers.
The problem is that this is an advice for performing artists or teachers
who need to build up a unique artistic air and iconic power to attract
students to their events! When a social dancer applies this on their
cabeceo strategies s/he will easily end up on the top of the skill pyramid
and cannot find partners anymore - the number of suitable partners is
growing low on this road. It is maybe ok for a performing teacher but a
catastrophe for social dancers who need several enjoyable partners to
fill the milonga night. So it could be worth an effort to find an
alternative mental model to better maintain a broad variety of
attractive dance partners.
New image suggestion
I have
heard some stories about leaders who through practicing with or teaching
followers at widely varying skill levels have developed a firm but
versatile lead. It is stable but still sensitive to the differences in
the partners' movements and can be easily adapted to them.
A leader is
challenged in different ways and in my mind there are similarities between
a person practicing dance and a person training in a gym. A Personal
Trainer teaches you a form, a correct way to do a move and follows up
how you use the weights, how your strength develops. In the same way a
tango teacher will guide you to find the right way to do a move and
monitors your development. The weights in tango are the different
qualities - length, weight, personal ability, skill level and so on - which come
with the partner, challenging your form. Do you have the strength to
keep your axis in the right position, to stay relaxed even when your partner is
continuously challenging you?
How to proceed
When you are
learning a new skill, a move, a sequence or technique you will most
easily get it right with your teacher, or someone who knows it and is
able to keep the correct form through the entire process.
Through
practice you will learn to maintain the correct form in spite of an
insecure partner or a challenging partner performance - your technique
will get stronger through the repetitions in situations when there is
pressure on your form.
Think of how the muscles grow when you are
repeating an action/form in a gym machine. You can maintain the correct
position and proceed through the repetitions correctly and slowly
adding more weights. I am convinced that this is a valid idea for a
practica too! When your skill on a move grows you will be able to
challenge the form by a variety of different partners.
If you
always and only dance with top skilled partners your strength is not
developing so much. It is as challenging as if you choose
1kg weights at the gym! Compare it to what happens when you repeatedly take as heavy challenge as
you can hardly manage?
But keep in mind! No pulling. No pushing. No squeezing. But soft, stable firmness and a correctly flowing pattern.
Pay attention!
You
need though pay attention to your own level - start with light weights
and dance with easy partners when developing a new skill. When the form
has stabilized search for tougher situations, challenge your form. Can
you keep it stable in spite of the pressure from a less skilled partner?
If
I get pain in my back the challenge was too large, I need to revert to
lower weights or a less challenging partner to maintain the correct
form. Or I need to change the dance hold to lessen the stressor.
Results
Your
training with various partners will improve your existing skills and
when you want to proceed you can do so more easily. At the start you
need supporting and good partners but this image, this way of thinking opens
up a broader group of potential dance partners and training partners
later on. I have noticed that this has also had an impact on my
enjoyment level and dance flows more smoothly with an earlier rough
partner! When people accept partners with varying skill it will have a
positive impact on the dance level and atmosphere at your community
too.
I have written this from a leader's point of view but it is
well valid for the followers too! And when your skills grow you will
pass the leader/follower period and reach the dancer/dancer situation
when you create the shared dance as equal partners.
paper water - the music dancers with different colors new colors and totally new steps
The Partnership period
At
the partnership stage the leader and follower know how to move in
tango, how to take steps and adapt to each other. At the beginning of
this period you slowly grow out from the leader/follower roles and are
transformed to dancers with much more equal impact on a tanda than
earlier.
In many important changes in my life, the relevant
aspects of a situation come together in a picture embodying the values
playing at that moment. So was the origin of this metaphor. I still
remember the follower and the spot on the pista where I was struck by
the idea about an aquarelle as an equivalent metaphor for our dancing.
The sheet of paper is the base and together with the pure water they represent the music.
When
we start to dance, her colors are trickling from one side of the paper
and mine are coming in from the opposite side. Our movements make the
water move and blend our colors to totally new ones. There are new
paths, forms creating themselves on the paper as well.
In a milonga,
the same tanda would feel different with a new follower, because they
come with a different personal set of colors. Followers have also impact
on leaders steps but the effect is not always easy to recognize. It can
be easier to notice with a new partner. Totally new combinations and
forms evolve when the personalities fit.
the followers drive their car on the prepared road
Following & Leading period
From the very beginning, I have been uncomfortable with the idea of following to be a passive role but it has been a challenge to find a way to describe the active parts included. It has also been impossible to find one picture integrating the whole life of a dancer. The feeling during the first years was totally different compared to the experience of a tanda 20 years later.
What kind of a metaphor could then describe the first years when the leading and following roles have the strongest presence in the couple. In the beginning, we are learning how to move our bodies to Argentine tango and how we relate to music so the dance becomes enjoyable even during your first years!
In classical music, the idea of a musical landscape is common so the idea of tangos creating their own sound landscape was a logical development. Even if some of the song texts are about soccer, heart, blood, and difficulties the music still creates different parallel paths the leaders can choose their favorite among. This is the leaders advantage or often a responsibility during the first years.
The Road Constructor
It is also easy to think a leader as a road constructor when he is choosing the musical path for his feet and body, building the road, which he is offering to the follower too. His skill to navigate and adapt to the other couples will create a safe road on the pista for the couple. Is your road rough or has it a smooth surface? How can your follower recognize the signs for speed limits? Other signs? Are there spaces for scenery stops?
The Car Driver
The follower is not a car as suggested so many times but the driver. It is the follower's decision how to drive that car! It is her decision to keep the vehicle on the offered road and to follow the speed limits and other road signs from the leader during the journey. What is your style of driving? Is it slow or fast? Is the driving occupying all your capacity or are you able to enjoy the path, the musical landscape around you?
The lead/follow period is about learning how to create the tango movements and sequences with your body and how to communicate all that to the partner. It is much more about learning and not so much about improvising yet.
Yes, this is just a metaphor and it doesn't meet all the leading and following aspects but it shows a possibility for a dynamic experience in both roles.
This is the metaphor for the first period on a dancers path! You can here below find the different possibilities there are for us!
https://leadingladyl.blogspot.com/2019/05/three-stages-of-tango-followlead.html
It took time but when I discovered this 3-stage development in my dance it facilitated the acceptance of certain difficulties. I knew it was not forever but for now!
This development chain can be activated in different situations during the dancers' life. It is the main tendency but it can also be activated when you want to learn a new skill or technique. Sometimes you maybe need to adapt your dance to a partner or pista at a different stage.
Following - Leading period
I consider that these two roles were created just for learning purposes! When we were starting up no one knew how to take the steps together in tango so the process would have been chaotic - to organize the learning the split of responsibilities was activated as well as the leader/ follower hierarchy. During this period the dancers learn to manage their own body and tango moves as well as the communication with, to and from, the partner.
I still remember how I was physically moving the follower during my first leading year. When she started to recognize my lead and we were able to complete the sequences then the lead, the physical impact could be lessened. Back then the leaders talked about moving a piece of furniture during a tanda but I am sure we were many, who acted as a moving service even when the follower was doing her part beautifully.
Later on we learn to communicate more effortless but my ability to adapt to surprises was still fragile. If the follower didn't respond by the book, if her response was not the one I expected the dance crashed, we stopped and restarted the sequence from the beginning.The same happened when another couple disturbed us!
Both groups will learn their own movements and communication. On top of that the leaders work on some additional responsibilities - they need to know the follower's steps, create the content and musicality during a tanda - making the leaders learning period longer. When the followers had learned their own part they could start to enjoy the dance with those leaders, who could offer some flow and smooth steps. Some followers will take this further and start to fully rely on the skilled leaders, who provide the musicality and more complex movements.
When we have developed our tango movements, a stable communication and we can manage surprises then we are well prepared for the next stage where we will meet more like equal partners. The leader/follower structure is changing to a dancer/dancer structure.
Partnering period
One day we will notice that the material is enough, the movement vocabulary and rhythmic patterns are enough so we will have satisfying variation during a tanda. Our ability to adapt to partners' unexpected moves and to react on surprises from the other couples grows and we will be able to manage the most situations on the pista without losing our dance flow. This increases our freedom and we can lessen the hierarchical structure of the roles and the dance will be a more equal type of partnering. In the beginning, I led every step but later on I knew that she was able to place her steps to music so I just communicated positions and directions. I actually danced with her upper body only and she took care of her own steps according to music and how our torsos were moving.
Because both dancers are now dancing more intuitively without constant mental control so there will be free capacity to pay attention to the partner and music. After 10-15 years of leading I was blown by the diversity among followers.
I have met the active partner followers as well as the relaxed, meditating followers and it is equally fantastic to dance with them. It seems that followers (leaders ?) who have been meditating or active in yoga have easier to relax while moving. In those cases my role has been to provide a flow of steps which is not boring but not too energetic either, just leaving the follower in the relaxed state of mind. If the dancing crowd is experienced then even I can relax and trust on the other couples' navigation skills.
A partner follower can create steps without the lead but she needs to follow the navigation lead which we have to maintain on an immature pista. If she is doing a Noelia, a rhythmic drill, she should develop a skill to continue even if the leader has to navigate or starts to dance too. It is the same demand as on the leader - I need to be skilled enough to change direction, speed and so on if the pista conditions force me to but keep our dance going on.
It was a rhythmical tango tanda where I was doing a quite fast path in the song. Suddenly I felt how she softly fall into a slower path also available in the music. It was a good choice so I hang on to the same path. I could have continued and she could have followed her choice but this time we went together.
We can also melt together when the following and leading are lost and the intuitive dance takes over. The dancing is not controlled, planned by the intellect but just happening, following the music playing. You often loose the feeling of time!
We are not any more leaders and followers but two dancers and we both listen to music and choose our steps. The challenge now is how to combine these two individual dances to one dancing couple. How should the arrangement be done for these two bodies?
Mature pista period
I had been dancing for some hours without a collision. Then suddenly I bumped twice to the same couple before me. He told me later that they were beginners - to my eye quite good dancers. That moment created the idea about a pista skill the experienced dancers have.
If you are driving a car you also know how smooth (some) experienced drivers can advance together. At the moment when you have a newly licensed driver before you the situation changes - the reactions can be too fast or too slow. They react differently and you need to pay special attention to those cars. The same can happen on the pista!
Experienced dancers are doing different steps but still they share a musicality, pista rhythm, so the movements are predictable. They go when the music is driving forward and they advance slowly when music is asking for that. They feel how different crowds move on a pista or what kind of speed certain orchestra creates on the ronda.
One of the navigation skills must be about musicality but it is also about the ability to turn your figures so you are coming out and continuing in a planned direction. The ability to vary step lengths within a figure gives you also flexibility to adapt to ever varying pista situations.
All these skills are needed to get a mature pista providing you the feeling of total freedom in your dance and the feeling of dancing to the music, with your partner as well as with the total pista!
The mature pista can pulsate! You can see it on some videos, here you have one!
How long time does this main development take? I have an estimate just for the lead/follow period coming from a tango teacher. She said that the preparation to partner stage usually takes five years and if the transition has not happened by eight years it will probably never occur.
the need of a teacher to tell apart crops and weeds
Have you seen how someone near you starts a new thing and performs really well but on the second try an ordinary beginner struggle takes place? Beginner luck with high results - then a long development period until you get there again.
Why is it so?
Could it be so that you are actually as good as the results showed at your first try but you are causing the flashback yourself? I got this idea when learning a new solitaire game and facing a downward tendency after some high score start games. It was so obvious that I had developed a skill or skills which were harmful to a good result. After a while, I understood that my tendency to organize the cards in rows was the reason - the cards should be moved as few times as possible.
It is like gardening - you start to work on it, fertilize the soil and all kind of plants start to grow and it looks wonderful and it feels wonderful. Everything is growing - but do you get the right results? or are you growing some weeds?
This episode made it very clear for me how important it is to have a teacher telling me what moves are the correct ones to continue with and which one I must let go. This is quite a difficult fact for me who always want to proceed on my own, find my own way . . . .
Solitaire
any of various card games played by one person, the object of which is to use up all one's cards by forming particular arrangements and sequences.
pleasurable pastime activity change of mode now I want to win! to know the feeling for winning
Usually I get restless just listening to the music. I need something more and a solitaire game has been a good company to me for many classical concerts on the radio. Usually my hands are quite mechanically moving the cards on the screen when the auditive is getting more attention. Many nights I was losing game after game and it was ok when the music was my main goal. There was though nights when I suddenly shook my shoulders and wanted to win.
I remember at that moment I changed the way I sat, I was more alert, I was focusing on the cards and I started to win!
It was not a new thing; everybody knows that there are different attitudes giving different results. So I knew the facts but the revolutionarily new thing was that now I knew how the difference FEELS.
How it felt in the body to be alert for winning and what kind of state the mind needs to be in so the result comes.
That is valuable when learning steps, posture, movements and what so ever tango puts on the table for me to learn. I know the difference when just moving and when I am fully LEARNING.
I am sure that you also have this kind of experience - give it the recognition it needs and let it become a tool when developing your best version of a dancer!
Solitaire
any of various card games played by one person, the object of which is to use up all one's cards by forming particular arrangements and sequences.
Is the leading more important than following has been the subject for several postings lately.
This is my view: I consider the leading and following to be the core functions in our dance. The leader and the follower are equally important at all levels and more similar in effort when both partners have developed their adaptation skills and later on the intuitive dance. However at the beginning the leaders workload is larger.
I agree with the writers about the step learning. I also think that both groups learn their own steps with equal easiness. Some individuals learn more easily then others but within the groups of leaders and followers it may be about the same.
Another area to learn is how to produce the lead/leading signals and follow/receive the signals. Think about a basic ocho as an example. Both groups need to learn the signals for different parts of it and during the hours on the pista leaders and followers do develop all the variations needed for different partners.
And here is the end of the list for follower responsibilities as i see it. On other hand the follower has the advantage to reach the level of true enjoyment or intuitive dancing much earlier than a leader. (a leader can experience the followers special level of relaxation and dream about joining her there some day. . . )
The list of the leader responsibilities is longer. At a later development level the conscious mental efforts and physical demands become similar for the persons forming the couple. During the journey from start to that level the leader is responsible and expected to cover for the shortcomings by learning more than a follower.
To begin with I need to know the follower steps - if not, how could I create the signals for an appropriate lead. It doubles my step learning efforts and even today it is mentally exhausting to remember her/my steps simultaneously when I am learning a new sequence.
Then we have the navigation which is much more than walking forward to an empty space on the pista. It is a complicated skill and last mastered. But when mastered the couple can intuitively adapt their steps to the space available while smoothly advancing on the dance line together with others. We can also, as couples, react to the music with different steps but simultaneously with others so the fully developed pista is pulsating to music. You can see this happen on some videos from Buenos Aires milongas.
The most demanding of the extras is the responsibility for content. The steps must be interesting enough and the connection to music needs to be satisfying. Different followers want different content. The leader must know what to suggest.
In the table below the rows present the areas of responsibilities for both groups. The columns show how much mental/conscious effort is needed for dancing. It stretches from totally conscious steps --> totally intuitive dancing. A variation of the Four stages of competence process!
For me the different stages/periods are these: During the Lead/Follow period the dancing is mostly a conscious process, demanding all my mental capacity. When partnering we both know the steps by heart and can easily adapt to each others; at the best moments intuitively. To reach to the absolute dance the couples on pista must have the skill to intuitively adapt to the other couples as well as to each others within the couple.
Finally and once more - I consider the leading and following to be the core functions in our dance. They are equally important at all levels and more similar in effort when both partners have developed their skills and later on the intuitive dance.
In an earlier posting I presented the idea about the similarities between the acting and dancing processes. With other words the actors have the script, their lines and all their skill is needed to blow life to those lines in the way the director points out. In dance we have the choreography, the steps and the dancers skill will get those steps to come alive while the choreographer is showing the direction! These two are quite similar processes, aren't they? Even when we do not cooperate with a choreographer on the social dance floor the actors advice can still be useful for us. I think we can agree about the actors strive for true and meaningful emotions, gestures and movements to express the character and his life and the same seems to be valid for the dancers too; they are also searching a true expression, a true dance where the movements are meaningful. Below you have three suggestions on acting aspects which I think could be valuable for the dancers too!
1. Investing in the moment
There is an old tango saying: Dance as if there is no one watching! In other words it is about focusing on music, partner and dancing in a way so you are not aware of the onlookers.
Robert
Carnes video is about how the actors can train themselves so they can
identify the most essential aspects, the issues which are critical for
the performance. The training makes them capable to change their focus
when needed and you can as a dancer to do the same! You can broaden your
capacity and choose to focus on an essential aspect, to an internal
aspect of dancing or the aspects and emotions you want your dance to
express. In that way you develop your dance and it can be better for you
and your partner.
2. The range of emotions in your service
To
be able to express the emotions presented in a song the dancer needs to
have access to the whole range of emotions within her/himself. This
need can push us to search the keys to the locked areas within us and
make us to grow as human beings. In his video Robert Carne gives the
growing actors training advice how to increase their emotional registry.
He uses the films but a tango dancer could pick different songs and
explore the emotions these songs are carrying to the listener! The
following questions could help you to find a way to a more open inner
landscape: What does he mean by the emotional muscles? How could you
train the fibres? or find the keys?
3. You are not listening!
This listening feels now to be the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of connection! A Finnish milonguero, Kristian Salikoski, has written his thesis about tango. (available in Finnish) In this context he points out how essential a touch is for the tango; a touch to understand the other person. It is a listening touch between the partners and this ongoing listening is part of the unique connection between the tango dancers. You reach to the other person and when you touch your partner you do it deeply focused and your senses are fully active. This quality of listening is also part of the acting process! In the video below you get the story how an actor is fine tuning is listening. When he understood what the deep listening means he could start to train the skill but still it took him several years to complete! To understand what the goal was gave him the direction to work for and I am sure kept him motivated during the years!
The Best Acting Lesson in the World sounds to be the best Dancing lesson too!
Personal experiences
It can be hard to recognize the processes taking place within oneself; what is happening and what is the content of an experience. Here I describe a few situations which I think are related to the connection: How well I am/we are connected to the music? or How alive is the connection between us, between me and my partner?
Meaningful steps
The feeling of meaning when taking a step was an early experience for me and since then it has been the guide for my musicality. Actually the first experience was the opposite: every now and then I felt how ridiculous it was to march alone at home to a tango. Little by little I understood that these feelings were created by the changing relation my steps had to the music. This became an important tool to monitor how well my steps were related to the music: the good steps generated a positive feeling, a low key satisfaction, meaningfulness but the unsuccessful steps were connected with feelings of ridiculousness or discomfort. I was lucky to get this tool which creates a joyful relation to musicality without anxiety.
Feeling the flow
During the 15+ years I have been dancing a few moments have been deeply different. The main features during these tandas have been a feeling of flow and a strong unfocused concentration. The feeling we/partner and I shared seems to have been visible even to others because for most of the cases someone came afterward and spontaneously told us how great it looked. The words they used made a match with the feeling I / we had during the dance. An other way to say it is: When we are connected - there is a flow and it is visible.
To choose a state of mind
It seems that I can switch between mental states during a tanda, roughly between two states. Sometimes when the dance is not going on easily, when I am tired or not engaged in the music there is a possibility to gear it up by deciding to dance better. If I do an effort I can feel the change and my partner has comment on that too.
Develop your emotions
I share Robert Carne's opinion that the actors need to have access to a large range of emotions and when it is so it enables them to express those emotions in their work. This is the way I understand the dancing too and therefore I have tried to train myself in emotions carried to me by the songs. Instead of watching the films I listen to tangos and let my body express the emotions which the song is releasing within me. It is a mild or wild solo experience and the outcome will be later modified to a form suitable for a pista. More than once a follower has told me that an uninteresting song got emotional content by the relation I had to it. She could recognize my positive attitude, emotions and she got a better experience herself.
Kristian Salikoskis theseis - I am sorry but the content is so far available only in Finnish. He has later on continued to to explore the touch aspect in dance but I think the basic idea of touch is valuable to us all. http://www.salicon.fi/progradusalikoski.pdf
I am quite puzzled about the two standards applied on musicians and dancers on a tango pista in some circles.
Many of the old orchestra members had classical, long education and professional career behind them when they entered the tango scene. My musically educated friends are coming every now and then, telling about the wonders they have found in the music: Those men were so genius! they knew the rules! they were so creative!
They were not fiddlers who learned just by playing!
Yes, those musicians are at real equal level only with the professional dancers, performers, but still - Why should the preferred state for the amateur tango dancers of today be an uneducated mind, untrained body, who learned by dancing in a milonga?
I do not know the education level for these old milongueros, but many of the newcomers in tango have a lot of education and academic degrees. I think their background does have impact on their relationship to tango and for them it includes more formal learning and education activities. That's the way we relate to new things, we want to study them! The world has become more complicated too! If you wanted to take a walk at 60's or 70's or earlier you just went out and took a walk. Today it is much more elaborate process. You need to think of your shoes, clothing, technique and devices. When I made a search for Nordic walk, ONE of the walking techniques, I got 48.000 hit on youtube and I think thousands of them are relevant. Why would tango activities stay outside of this trend?
So the main questions here are:
How can real, true music performance include education, training, performing, admiration of the audience and still be moving and true? But in the same time the dancer is losing the authenticity, by training or seeking the applause and appreciation from the audience or peers?
Or have the times changed so even an amateur dancer have right to train her/his body and mind and still be a true dancer?
I know very few followers who have continuously, daily training as the strategy to become better dancer. Most followers take courses every now and then and consider the dances with more advanced leaders as their main strategy.
Think of a tennis court where a world champion is playing with a beginner. Yes, his skill makes it possible to return all the balls and if he is a nice person, he can drop some of them to create a friendly atmosphere. His skill makes it also possible to place the balls so they are easy for the beginner to return.
The situation is totally different for these two. The beginner is amazed that she is able to play with the world champion and she thinks she is really good, playing with all her capacity. For the champion this is not so much about skill training, playing at the edge of his ability, but about caring, to be nice.
The biggest issue here for me is the situation when she returns to the same tennis court, but this time with another beginner. The match is totally different and it is easy to explain the difference by pointing this new playmate to 10 levels lower stage ( incorrectly). This kind of false idea of your own level creates difficulties in learning and you maybe get to the partnering stage later.
Partnering stage is (for me) when both are playing/dancing at the edge of their skill without compensation from the other, mutually exploring new things.
*This posting is a responce to a specific situation for followers but some parts could be valid for leaders too.
I
started to dance tango 1998, which makes me ancient compared to many in
our community. When I have looked back over these years I have had a
blurred feeling of passing through different stages since I started. But
for some reason this feeling has never manifest itself in writing until
two weeks ago when I in the middle of a facebook discussion put it in
this way:
"I
put it a little bit simple here, but at the beginning and intermediate
level I needed a follower. If she didn't understand my lead and did
something else => there we were standing, loading for a fresh start.
Today
I need a partner - a mentally strong follower with her own musicality.
If she misinterprets my lead, we just go on dancing, it doesn't have
impact on our flow. If I don't *feel* her presence in our dance I feel
lonely.
This
subject seems to be in the air today because a few days later I found a picture
describing the 5 stages of tango. It is well done with thoughts quite correct
and visually beautifully formed. It is a very good aid to stimulate your own
thoughts about what you have passed by and the joys you’ll have in future.
I'm sorry that the picture is not readable, please follow this link! (Ctrl + and it gets larger)
Credit to Steve Morrall, Tango UK (the author) http://www.tango.uk.com If we were able to form some kind of shared understanding of development stages for tango it would be easier to discuss. Today many of our discussions are confusing because we mix the details from different levels during one occasion. In my opinion the feeling, experience, thinking and performance of tango phenomenons are different at different levels. I hope we will some day in future have a kind of shared understanding!
